Rumen fermentation pattern of Barbari kids at different physiological stages under semi-intensive system of production

Abstract

An experiment on 24 goat kids, 8 of each stage of growth (K1, 3–6 month; K2, 6–9 months; K3, 9–12 months) was conducted to study the rumen fermentation pattern of goat kids under semi-intensive system of feeding and management. The semi-intensive system of goat production involved 6 to 8 h daily grazing with feeding of concentrate at 1.5% of live weight, dry roughage (gram straw) ad lib. and green fodder 1,500 g/ animal/ day after grazing. The rumen fluid pH, total-N (mg/dl) and NPN (mg/dl) were similar among kid groups and mean levels were respectively 6.5, 70.81 mg/dl and 39.83 mg/dl. The TCA-ppt-N and NH3-N concentration were lower (p<0.05) in K1 (20.8 mg and 17.76 mg) kids, while K2 and K3 kids had the similar levels. The TVFA (mmol/dl) and fractional VFA were not different among kid groups and mean TVFA were 10.63 mmol/dl, while mean proportion (%) of acetate, propionate and butyrate were 66.29, 22.07 and 11.61 respectively. Therefore, it is concluded that kids at 3–6 months of age have low proteolytic activities while energy/fibrolytic activities not affected by age of kids.